EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have ruled out a potential suspect in the case of two young cousins whose bodies were found months after their disappearance in northeast Iowa.

Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (http://bit.ly/1nPLSVm ) that an investigation into Michael Klunder indicates he wasn’t in the area when Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins disappeared in July 2012.

Elizabeth was 8 and Lyric was 10 when they were last seen riding their bikes near a lake in Evansdale. Hunters found their bodies in a rural area several months later.

Klunder became a potential suspect in the case following his death in May 2013. Shortly before he killed himself, authorities say he kidnapped a 12-year-old girl and 15-year-old girl. The younger girl escaped, but police say Klunder killed the teen.